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Case file s1741 · Music and sport · 2015
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2015
Joni Mitchell: Joni Mitchell 2021 Kennedy Center Honors (cropped)
Joni Mitchell. Library of Congress Life. CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
living; conservatorship filed April 2015
Place
Los Angeles, California · United States
Field
folk and singer-songwriter · Music on the timeline
Legal tradition
US common law (California) · Common law
Historical event
Mitchell's 2015 brain aneurysm
Music and sportNowNorth AmericaUnited States

Joni Mitchell's friend told a court the singer was unconscious while her website said she was alert, and won control of her medical care

Joni Mitchell was found unconscious at her Los Angeles home and hospitalized on 31 March 2015 after a brain aneurysm. She had no family member able to act for her. In April 2015 Leslie Morris, a friend of more than 40 years, petitioned Los Angeles Superior Court to become her conservator. The petition said Mitchell "remains unconscious and unable to make any responses." On the same day Mitchell's official website said she "comprehends, she's alert and she has her full senses" and that "a full recovery is expected." A declaration by Dr. Paul Vespa said she could not attend a hearing for four to six months. The petition sought power over her personal and medical care, not her money. Morris became temporary conservator in May 2015. On 8 July 2015 Judge David S. Cunningham III kept Morris in charge of Mitchell's medical care, ruled that Morris had no control over her finances, and left Mitchell her right to vote. By then Mitchell was home and had regained her speech, and the judge said the conservatorship may not be needed much longer. In 2026 Mitchell is alive. She returned to the stage at the 2022 Newport Folk Festival†. No report of the conservatorship's end was found†.

What the law took from it

A single person with no spouse or child in reach needs a health-care power of attorney, or a court will pick who decides.

Sources
  1. bostonglobe.comPress
  2. CBS NewsPress
  3. Rolling StonePress

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Joni Mitchell's friend told a court the singer was unconscious while her website said she was alert, and won control of her medical care,” story s1741, https://www.celebrity.estate/joni-mitchell-2015, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Music and sportNowNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States